Florida Correctional Facilities - Office of Program Policy ...

Florida Correctional Facilities

Report No. 19-08 October 2019

October 2019

Report No. 19-08

An Inventory of Correctional Facilities Within Florida

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) supervises over 95,000 inmates in 145 facilities across the state, with REPORT SCOPE

the oldest currently operating facility built in 1913. The types of FDC facilities are diverse in terms of size and the types of inmates that can be housed within each facility. FDC facilities range from small facilities that house minimum custody inmates who are assigned to community work squads to large institutions that have many different facility missions within one perimeter, such as housing death row and a faith and character dorm in one compound.

FDC also uses specific facilities to respond to inmate physical and mental health needs. Some inmates require intensive medical treatment while incarcerated and these

As directed by the Legislature, OPPAGA provided an inventory of Florida Department of Corrections facilities including

? facility opening dates; ? locations; ? characteristics; ? inmate and staffing levels;

and ? operating and maintenance

costs.

inmates are housed at one of twenty facilities that can handle their health needs. Other inmates require specialized mental health care and are spread out in a continuum of mental health care placements across the

As directed, OPPAGA also provided considerations for consolidation and new construction of facilities.

state. In order to accommodate changing inmate

populations, the department has closed, re-opened,

remodeled, and built new facilities based on its housing needs.

Operating and maintenance costs are reflected in per diems and recent appropriations for repairs and renovations. The cost to operate correctional facilities includes many factors, such as security staffing and infrastructure, facility upkeep, and costs related to programming, such as inmate education.

This review of FDC facilities provides an inventory of department facilities and examples and considerations for consolidation of existing facilities and new construction.

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INTRODUCTION

The Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) supervises over 95,000 inmates in 145 facilities throughout the state.1 (See Exhibit 1.) Organized into four regions, the department manages over 19,500 acres of land that are leased from the Board of Trustees.2 For Fiscal Year 2019-20, the Legislature appropriated $2.7 billion and 24,856 positions to the department, making it the largest state agency employer. Most (17,582) of these positions are certified correctional officers.3,4 Exhibit 1 Map of Florida's Correctional Institutions

Source: Florida Department of Corrections. 1 This includes 120 facilities managed by the department and 25 facilities managed by other entities (18 contracted community release centers and

7 private prisons). 2 Section 253.03, F.S., establishes the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund to manage, control, protect, and dispose of lands

owned by the state. 3 In order to become employed as a certified correctional officer in Florida, individuals must meet certain requirements, such as being at least 18

years of age, having earned a high school diploma or equivalent (GED), and not having been convicted of a felony or convicted of a misdemeanor involving perjury or false statement. Individuals must also successfully complete the Florida basic recruit training program for corrections and achieve a passing score on the State Officer Certification Examination. 4 In addition to security staff, most major institutions have staff related to chaplaincy services, classification, education, food service, library service, maintenance and utilities, warden's office, and other roles.

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Many correctional facilities are located close to each other, with FDC collocating two or more facilities on a single parcel or adjacent parcels of land forming a single compound. These collocated facilities function administratively as a single unit, with one warden who oversees the budget and staff for the compound. These compounds can include facilities of different types. See Appendix A for more information and examples of facilities that are closely located.

As shown in Exhibit 2, the department houses inmates in several different types of facilities. Typically, inmates are initially assigned to a facility based on custody level or the level of supervision they require and their health and programming needs. However, inmates may be moved to different facilities during their sentence.5 Facilities vary in size, with maximum capacities ranging from 76 beds to 1,671 beds, and include different types of housing arrangements, such as open bay dormitories with a large room of beds and one-person and two-person cells.6 Most facilities house male offenders, with six facilities housing female offenders.7

Major institutions make up the largest number of facilities and also house the highest number of inmates. Some other facility types allow inmates to work in the community to differing degrees. For example, work camps, road prisons, and forestry camps are secured institutions that assign inmates to public work squads to complete jobs within the community. Community release centers allow inmates to hold a job in the community and return to the center when not working. (See Appendix B for more information on community release centers.)

Exhibit 2 Types of Florida Department of Corrections Facilities as of June 2019

50 Major Institutions (56,572 inmates)

Major institutions house inmates of all custody levels. All major institutions are assigned a warden and may contain other facilities within the compound. These institutions are secured by fences, razor wire or ribbon, electronic detection systems, perimeter towers with armed correctional officers, or officers in perimeter vehicles.

17 Annexes (14,058 inmates)

Annexes are facilities attached to a major institution and under the supervision of the same warden. These institutions have the same type of security features as major institutions and are secured by fences, razor wire or ribbon, electronic detection systems, perimeter towers with armed correctional officers, or officers in perimeter vehicles.

3 Re-Entry Centers (1,171 inmates)

Re-entry centers are designed to prepare inmates for successful transition back into the community by providing evidence-based re-entry services. Inmates receive pre-release services at the centers and are connected with post-release community-based service providers.

34 Work Camps (10,163 inmates)

Work camps house lower custody level inmates who are typically transferred to a work camp after completing part of their sentence at a major institution or annex and showing satisfactory adjustment. Inmates at work camps can be on public work squads that complete jobs, such as cleaning roadways, moving state furniture, cleaning forests, and painting. Work camps are secured by fences and razor ribbon and are commonly located near major institutions in order to share services, such as laundry and health services.

5 Determined by many factors including length of sentence, criminal history, history of violence, and escape history, custody levels delineate the security level of the inmate's facility placement. Custody level classifications are community, minimum, medium, close, and maximum.

6 This range is limited to 108 major institutions, annexes, re-entry centers, work camps, road prisons, forestry camps, and one basic training program. 7 The six facilities that house female inmates are Florida Women's Reception Center, Hernando Correctional Institution, Homestead Correctional

Institution, Lowell Correctional Institution, Lowell Annex, and Lowell Work Camp. (See Appendix C). Additionally, three state-operated community release centers (Atlantic Community Release Center, Hollywood Community Release Center, and Orlando Community Release Center), three contracted community release cetners (Bradenton Bridge, Shisha West, and Suncoast), and one privately operated correctional facility (Gadsden Correctional Facility) also house female inmates.

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12 State-Run Community

Release Centers (1,356 inmates)

18 Contracted Community

Release Centers (2,066 inmates)

3 Road Prison/Forestry Camps

(437 inmates)

State-run community release centers house two types of inmates. First, they house inmates at community custody who participate in paid employment in the community. Second, they house minimum custody inmates who work in a supportive role for the center, such as food service or laundry. Community release centers have no perimeter fencing, but inmates are required to remain at the center unless they are working or attending approved programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous. Additionally, inmates must save part of their salary for victim restitution and room and board.

Contracted community release centers are similar to state-run community release centers, except they are operated by a contracted entity instead of the state.

Road prisons and forestry camps are similar to work camps because they house lower custody inmates who work on public work squads doing jobs, such as road work on highways and moving state furniture. Road prisons and forestry camps are secured by perimeter fences. Road prisons and forestry camps are differernt from work camps in that they are usually several miles away from their main facility and inmates are usually doing more work on outside squads, such as numerous public works and Department of Transportation work.

1 Basic Training Program

(21 inmates)

The Basic Training Program or Boot Camp is designed to provide an alternative to long periods of incarceration for inmates who have been designated as youthful offenders. The program is a regimented schedule of structured discipline, counseling, general education development and adult basic education, work assignments, physical training, and other rehabilitation programs.

7 Private Correctional Facilities

(9,782 inmates)

Private correctional facilities are major institutions as described above operated by a private contractor. The Florida Department of Management Services oversees operational contracts for five facilities of male offenders (Bay, Blackwater River, Graceville, Moore Haven, and South Bay Correctional Facilities), one youthful offender facility (Lake City Correctional Facility), and one facility for female offenders (Gadsden Correctional Facility).

Note: Gadsden Re-Entry Center is counted as a major institution because it has a warden assigned to the facility. Additionally, reception centers are counted as major institutions. When an inmate is sentenced to prison, they are first sent to a reception center for an average of three to four weeks. During the reception process, the appropriate facility placement is determined for the inmate by assessing characteristics such as custody level and health care needs. The inmate is then sent to a facility that can accommodate these needs and requirements.

Source: Florida Department of Corrections.

FACILITY INVENTORY

We inventoried Florida's correctional facilities to determine facility locations, age, and characteristics that affect inmate placement including custody level, medical and psychological grades, and specialized missions. We also reviewed costs per facility, including per diems and recent repair costs. This inventory includes 108 state-run major institutions, annexes, re-entry centers, work camps, forestry and road prisons, and one basic training program.8 (See Appendices C, F, and G for more detailed information for each facility.)

8 Our analysis does not include the 7 privately operated facilities and 30 community release centers. It also does not include the 9 Florida Department of Corrections managed facilities that are currently closed.

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Correctional Facility Location and Age

Florida Department of Corrections' facilities are located across the state with 44 of Florida's 67 counties having at least one FDC facility. Marion and Miami-Dade counties have the most facilities with six each. This includes four facilities for female inmates in Marion County: Florida Women's Reception Center and Lowell Correctional Institution, Annex, and Work Camp. The department is organized into four regions that roughly correspond with Florida's geographic regions of the Panhandle (Region 1), the Big Bend and Northeast Florida (Region 2), Central Florida and Tampa Bay (Region 3), and South Florida (Region 4). While FDC has facilities in all four regions, the majority(69) are located in the northern Regions 1 and 2. (See Exhibit 3.)

Exhibit 3 Correctional Facility Location by County and Region

Florida has a long-standing history of building facilities in the northern part of the state. Over half (59%) of FDC's prison facilities are in rural counties, or those with population densities of less than 100 persons per square mile.9 This practice dates back to Florida's oldest, still-operating prison facility, Union Correctional Institution, which was opened in 1913 in Raiford, Union County. The Union-Bradford county area and its towns of Lake Butler, Raiford, and Lawtey have nine facilities, with five being major institutions, located within the two county area.

Source: OPPAGA analysis of Florida Department of Corrections data.

9 The 2010 Census designated 30 rural counties in Florida: Baker, Bradford, Calhoun, Columbia, DeSoto, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Glades, Gulf, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Monroe, Okeechobee, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Wakulla, Walton, and Washington.

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Since 1980, the majority of new prisons in the United Exhibit 4 States have been built in non-metropolitan areas, Opening Years of Currently Operating Florida resulting in the majority of prisoners being housed in Department of Corrections Facilities rural America. With declines in agriculture and manufacturing, the acquisition of prisons as a conscious economic development strategy for depressed rural communities became widespread across the country. This shift to rural prison siting coincided with a prison-building boom that reflected a larger national trend in which the U.S. prison population experienced a three-fold increase from 1980 to 2000. Florida was no exception and during this 20-year period built 59 correctional facilities, including 28 major institutions, 22 work camps, 6 annexes, 2 road prisons/forestry camps, and 1 basic training program. (See Exhibit 4.) Most of these facilities (34) were sited in rural counties.

Over time, the design characteristics of correctional

facilities have changed. For example, facilities built in

the late 1970s developed a campus-like feel with

separate buildings; however, these designs lacked

symmetry and line of sight for correctional officers to

see and monitor inmates. The prototype that was

used in the 1990s increased the department's ability

to more safely control the movement of inmates

between units by subdividing a unit into two halves

with a center gate. One half is for housing and the

other half is for administrative functions, education,

chapel, and food service. Between 2000-2013, FDC

opened five major institutions, eight annexes, and

three re-entry centers.10 The prototype in the 2000s

further enhanced the concept of controlled inmate

movement by having a dedicated recreation space in

the center of the compound, which is open and

provides a line of sight for security staff. This

prototype also has front and rear buildings to house

support functions. The Everglades Re-Entry Center is

the most recent new facility to open, with an opening

date of 2013. Housing medium custody and lower

custody inmates who are preparing for re-entry into

society, the re-entry center has a maximum capacity

of 432 inmates. (See Appendix C for a list of opening

dates by institution.)

Source: OPPAGA analysis of Florida Department of Corrections information.

10 The department also opened 11 work camps between 2000 and 2019.

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The opening date of facilities does not necessarily reflect repairs and improvements to existing buildings and construction of new buildings. Each year, FDC selects facilities that require modernization or repair based on an annual condition assessment. Using funds from Fiscal Year 2016-17, the most recent year funding was available, a total of 42 facilities had at least one major repair or renovation project. For example, Wakulla Correctional Institution had four major projects including mold remediation in the medical and classification building and training building; renovation of two mental health dorms and fencing repairs and upgrades; and architectural and design services related to re-roofing of a gatehouse. Additionally, the Reception and Medical Center in Lake Butler had two major projects including engineering services relating to replacement of electricity infrastructure and an emergency generator and the re-opening of a dorm after adding HVAC systems to the bed areas, replacing the HVAC unit in the officer's station, replacing water heaters, and performing general plumbing and electrical fixture repairs. (See Appendix G for a list of repairs for facilities.)

Over time, FDC has closed and reopened facilities for various reasons. For example, the department has closed facilities to respond to a declining inmate population or because the facility requires intensive repairs. In other cases, FDC may temporarily close a dorm or facility to adjust for staffing shortages so that those staff can fill positions in other dorms or facilities. The department may also reopen facilities. For example, both the Hamilton Work Camp and the Columbia Work Camp were closed in 2012 and reopened in 2016. The department re-opened the work camps because FDC facilities were operating at maximum capacity as of July 2015 and opening both work camps increased the total number of beds by 576. Additionally, according to department staff, re-opening the work camps allows the department to house inmates who are on public work squads separately from close custody inmates within the rest of the institutions and limits opportunities for inmates working outside the institution to introduce contraband into higher security level facilities. In July 2017, the department closed dorms within the Taylor Annex due to the inability to adequately staff the facility. That same year, to help absorb this inmate population to help absorb the inmate population, FDC re-opened New River Correctional Institution, which was closed in March 2012.

Facility Characteristics and Inmate Placement

While department facilities are grouped into types, such as major institutions, annexes, re-entry centers, and work camps, there are differences between facilities that limit the types of inmates an institution can house. Many facilities have specific missions based on the needs of the department and the needs of the inmate. When an inmate is transferred to FDC, they are first sent to one of six reception centers for an average of three to four weeks.11 During the reception process, an appropriate facility placement is selected for the inmate by assessing characteristics to help determine security requirements and health care needs. Security requirements include inmate custody level as well as the identification of specific individuals that the inmate should not be in contact with, such as gang affiliates. The department also considers other factors in placement, such as programmatic, education, and health needs of the inmate. The inmate is then sent to a facility that can accommodate these needs and requirements. During their sentence, inmates can be transferred to other institutions to accommodate changing needs of the inmate and to serve the mission of the department in managing the prison population.

One of the determinants of inmate placement is custody level, which helps determine the level of security that an inmate requires. Initial inmate custody levels are assigned by classification officers at

11 The department's reception center locations are Central Florida Reception Center (Orlando), Florida Women's Reception Center (Ocala), North West Florida Reception Center (Chipley), Reception and Medical Center (Lake Butler), South Florida Reception Center (Doral), and Sumter Annex (Bushnell).

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